Binding device

ABSTRACT

Binding apparatus for binding wire around pulp bales are disclosed including a wire magazine, a wire feeder for feeding and stretching the wire, a guide for guiding the wire from the feeder around the pulp bale, a wire cutter and twister for cutting the wire and twisting together the wire ends and a take-up unit for taking up a loop in the wire obtained upon stretching of the wire around the pulp bale, the take-up unit including a take-up space having a pair of walls separated by a distance adapted to accept the wire but insufficient to accept a double strand of the wire, and the short sides of the take-up space separated by a distance adapted to accept a loop of the wire without being folded and the take-up space at one of the short sides including a wire guide space wider than the wire and formed by grooves in at least one of the walls.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device for binding wire around pulpbales, where the wire is taken from a wire magazine, preferably a coilof wire, comprising feed means for feeding and stretching the wire,guide means for guiding the wire around the object during the feed,means for cutting off the stretched wire and retaining and twistingtogether the wire ends, and a take-up unit for taking up the wire loopresulting from the stretching of the wire.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Pulp bales are bound by known devices of the kind described above, andexamples of such devices are described, for example, in Swedish PatentNos. 380, 496, 509, 532 and 509, 534. As described in thesepublications, the free end of the wire is advanced through the means forcutting off and twisting together the wire, and is guided around thebale by guide means. When the wire reaches the means for cutting off andtwisting together the wire for the second time, the feed is stopped andthe wire end is caught and retained. The guide means releases the wire,and the feed means is reversed to stretch the wire around the bale,whereafter the wire is cut off, and the ends are twisted into a knot.The re-fed wire is then used in the next binding operation. Thestretching of the wire yields a relatively great wire length, which mustbe taken up by the take-up unit. In such devices, problems often arisein that the wire entangles in the take-up unit. This results inoperation breakdowns.

On of the objects of the present invention is to provide a take-up unitwhich has a higher operational safety and capacity and renders possiblea high speed feed of the wire.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention this and other objects have nowbeen -realized by the discovery of apparatus for binding wire having apredetermined diameter around bales comprising a wire magazine forsupplying the wire, a feeder for feeding and stretching the suppliedwire, a guide for guiding the wire from the feeder around the bale, awire cutter and twister for cutting the wire and twisting together theends of the cut wire, and a take-up unit for taking up a loop in thewire obtained upon the stretching of the wire around the bale, thetake-up unit comprising a longitudinally extending wire take-up spacecomprising a pair of long sides formed by a pair of walls and a pair ofshort sides, the pair of walls being separated by a first predetermineddistance adapted to accept the wire having the predetermined diameterbut not sufficient to accept a double strand of the wire, the pair ofshort sides separated by a second predetermined distance adapted toaccept a loop of the wire without being folded, the longitudinallyextending wire take-up space at one of the pair of short sidescomprising a wire guide space which is wider than the firstpredetermined distance and formed by grooves in at least one of the pairof walls. Preferably, the wire take-up space has a substantiallyrectangular shape.

In accordance with one embodiment of the apparatus of the presentinvention, the bales comprise pulp bales.

In accordance with another embodiment of the apparatus of the presentinvention, the wire magazine comprises a coil of the wire.

In accordance with another embodiment of the apparatus of the presentinvention, the wire take-up space has a predetermined lengthsufficiently long to accommodate a plurality of successive wire loopstherein.

In accordance with another embodiment of the apparatus of the presentinvention, the grooves in at least one of the pair of walls has a widthapproximately equal to the predetermined diameter and a depth of fromabout 0.5 to 1.5 times the predetermined diameter.

These and other objects are also achieved in principle by the take-upunit comprising a longitudinal, relatively flat space (wire take-upspace), which in cross-section has a substantially rectangular shapewith long sides and short sides. The distance between the long sides(width) is adapted to the wire diameter, so that the wire cannot liedouble therein, and the distance between the short sides (height) issuch that the wire can lie in loops between the short sides withoutfolding. The wire take-up space has at one short side a wider portion;i.e., a groove, adapted to retain the wire when it is stretched.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be more fully appreciated with reference tothe following detailed description which, in turn, refers to thefigures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side, elevational, partially opened view of a bindingmachine according to the present invention during the feeding of wire;

FIG. 2 is a side, elevational, partially opened view of the machineshown in FIG. 1 during wire stretching′

FIG. 3 is a side, elevational, partial, enlarged scale view of a feedunit shown in the machine of FIG. 1′

FIG. 4 is a side, elevational, enlarged view of a portion of the wiretake-up unit shown in the machine shown in FIG. 1′

FIG. 5 is an end, elevational view of the wire take-up unit shown inFIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side, elevational, sectional, partial view taken along line6-6 in FIG. 4 ; and

FIG. 7 is a side, elevational, enlarged, partial view of the take-upunit shown in FIG. 2, with the wire in a different position therefrom.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The binding device shown in the Figures has a stand 10, which carries anumber of units for various partial operations. A feed unit 11 isprovided to feed binding wire, usually steel wire, 12, with a diameterD, from a wire magazine (not shown) in the form of a coil, from whichthe wire is reeled off. A wire guide means in the form of a bar 14extends about the pulp bale 13 for the wire to be bound around the bale.The pulp bale 13 is moved by bale feed conveyor, 15,16, into the guidebar 14 perpendicularly to the paper plane. A binding unit 17 comprisesmeans for cutting off the wire, catching the wire ends and twisting thesame together. The binding unit is conventional and is not shown anddescribed in detail, but reference is made to the Swedish patentspecifications mentioned above.

The feed unit 11 is shown in the Figures with its metal cover sheetremoved, and it is shown on an enlarged scale in FIG. 3. It comprises afeed wheel, 20, which is driven by a reversible motor (not shown), andthe wire, 12, is clamped against the feed wheel by counter-rolls, 19,21, and 22, to ensure a frictional force against the wire. The wire ismoved over a pulley 23 by means of a guide wheel 24 over three pulleys,25, 26, and 27, and a guide wheel, 28, to the feed wheel, 20. The threepulleys, 25 through 27, are located on a block, 30, which is guided on aguide pin, 29, fixed on the stand, which guide pin is loaded by aspring, 31, towards an outer end position, and the wire tension will becounter-acted by the spring force. The spring force is suitably adaptedso that the block, 30, at normal wire tension is just in its outer endposition. As the wire tension produces a resulting force on the block,30, which is in parallel with and coaxial, or almost coaxial with theguide of the block, no breaking forces will affect the guide of theblock.

FIG. 1 shows the binding device during feeding of the wire, when thefeed wheel, 20, has advanced the free end, 32, of the wire, 12, aroundthe bale, 13, and the wire end is then guided by the guide bar, 14, sothat it has returned to the binding unit, 17. The binding unit, 17, thencatches the wire end, 32, and retains it. The wire guide bar, 14, isaxially divisible and is opened so that the wire, 12, is released, andwhen the feed wheel, 20, is reversed, the wire will be stretched aroundthe bale, 13, as shown in FIG. 2. When the wire, 12, is stretched, asshown in FIG. 2, the re-fed wire will be fed into a longitudinalhorizontal or substantially horizontal wire take-up space, 34, which isa part of the wire take-up unit, 35. When the wire is stretched, thebinding unit, 17, will cut off the wire and twist the ends into a knot.

The wire take-up space, 34, is shown in FIG. 4 in a lateral view, and inFIG. 5 in an end view. The space is formed by two walls, 40 and 41(suitably metal sheets), which are screwed together with a partitionwall, 42, so that the space, 34, in cross-section has a substantiallyrectangular form with short sides, 48 and 49, and long sides, 50 and 51.The distance between the short sides, 48 and 49, (width) is slightlygreater than the wire diameter D, as best shown in FIG. 6. The wire,therefore, cannot be wedged tightly between the walls, 40and 41, orplace itself double in width. The walls, 4041, have at their ends (atthe upper short side of the wire take-up space in the Figures)longitudinal grooves, 52 and 53, so that the wire take-up space, 34 isupwardly widened to a T-shape, and forms a wider portion, the wire guidespace, 43, for the wire. The width of the wire guide space, 43, can be,for example, three wire diameters, where every groove, 52 and 53, in thewalls, 40 and 41, has a depth of about one wire diameter. The wire guidespace, 43, must not be too wide. It is suitable that the groove (52and53) has a width of fully one wire diameter, and depth of about 0.5 to 5times the wire diameter or, still more suitably, about 1 to 2 times thewire diameter.

The wire guide space, 43, is located in its orientation so that there-fed wire is fed into it. The wire sways slightly in the lateraldirection when it is pressed into the grooves, 52 and 53, and thereforeis retained in the wire guide space 43 a longer distance before it fallsout of the grooves, 52 and 53, as a long soft bow, 44, to the lowershort side, 49, of the wire take-up space, 34. Owing to the resilienceof the steel wire, the leading edge of the loop, 33, does not collapse,but remains in a bow, 45, between the short sides, 48 and 49, of thewire take-up space, 34, as shown in FIG. 7. When the wire then continuesto be fed into the space, 34, the bow, 44, will be pressed togetherforward, and at the same time a third loop is formed, as shown in FIG.2. In this way the loops are stacked horizontally one after the other,and the wire take-up space, 34, can therefore receive along its entirelength A a great wire length in relation to its size with no risk thatthe wire entangles or forms snarls or folds. The space, 34, must not beso high (have such a great distance between its short sides, 48 and 49),that a loop can be formed above another loop, i.e. the height must beadapted to the flexural resistance of the wire. The wire take-up spaceshould have a length A sufficiently great that at least two loops can beformed one after the other in the wire take-up space, 34. The wiretake-up space, of course, can be still longer in order to be able totake up more wire.

Suitable dimensions for the wire take-up space in a device according tothe embodiment of the present invention shown with a wire diameter D of,for example, 2.2 mm can be a length A of about 1.5 m, distance betweenthe short sides, 48 and 49, of about 0.2 m, distance between the longsides, 50 and 51, of about 3 mm, and a depth of the grooves, 52 and 53,of about 3 mm, and a width of about 3 mm.

For a device greater or smaller than the embodiment shown, of course,other measures are suitable and must, as mentioned above, be adapted tothe wire diameter.

In the embodiment of the present invention shown herein, the wire guidespace is a part of the upper portion of the wire take-up space.Depending on the design of the device, the wire guide space can beanother part of the wire take-up space, for example a part of the lowerportion of the wire take-up space.

Instead of having a longitudinal groove in each of the walls, only onewall can include one groove, where the wire take-up space is widened toan L-shape for forming the wire guide space.

The reliability of the take-up of wire in a device according to thepresent invention has proved to be considerably better than in knowndevices, and the taking-up allows a very high wire speed.

When a wire has been bound around the bale, as described above, the baleis advanced through a certain distance by the bale conveyor, 15, 16, foradditional binding. The feed wheel 20 starts to feed the wire end onceagain, and at first the wire is taken from the earlier re-fed loop, 33,and the feed wheel, 20, comes up quickly to full feed speed which, forexample, can be 4,5 m/s. When the loop ends and reaches the threepulleys, 25 through 27, on the block, 30, the wire will start to bedrawn from the pulley, 23, and the idle wire starts to be accelerated upto the feed speed. When the jerk caused by the loop reaches the pulleys,25 through 27, the spring, 31, will be compressed and thereby soften thejerk in the idle portion of the wire, so that it can be acceleratedsoftly. The spring must not be prestressed and should have such aprogressivity that the wire force can manage to break the returnmovement of the block, so that the block does not remain in its normalposition, because this would involve the risk of snarls and knots in thewire, although the movement of the block, 30, when the end of the wireloop, 33, reaches the three pulleys, 25 through 27, of the block,reduces the risk thereof. By the resilient block, 30, the risk of theformation of snarls and knots in the wire is considerably reduced, andat the same time the strain on the feed wheel, 20, and its motor andpossible gearbox is decreased, which can increase the service life ofthese parts.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference toparticular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodimentsare merely illustrative of the principles and applications of thepresent invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerousmodifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that otherarrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

1-3. (canceled)
 4. Apparatus for binding wire having a predetermineddiameter around bales comprising a wire magazine for supplying saidwire, a feeder for feeding and stretching said supplied wire, a guidefor guiding said wire from said feeder around said bale, a wire cutterand twister for cutting said wire and twisting together the ends of saidcut wire, and a take-up unit for taking up a loop in said wire obtainedupon said stretching of said wire around said bale, said take-up unitcomprising a longitudinally extending wire take-up space comprising apair of long sides formed by a pair of walls and a pair of short sides,said pair of walls being separated by a first predetermined distanceadapted to accept said wire having said predetermined diameter but notsufficient to accept a double strand of said wire, said pair of shortsides separated by a second predetermined distance adapted to accept aloop of said wire without being folded, said longitudinally extendingwire take-up space at one of said pair of short sides comprising a wireguide space which is wider than said first predetermined distance andformed by grooves in at least one of said pair of walls.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 4 wherein said wire take-up space has a substantiallyrectangular shape.
 6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said balescomprise pulp bales.
 7. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said wiremagazine comprises a coil of said wire.
 8. The apparatus of claim 4wherein said wire take-up space has a predetermined length sufficientlylong to accommodate a plurality of successive wire loops therein.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 4 wherein said grooves in at least one of said pairof walls has a width approximately equal to said predetermined diameterand a depth of from about 0.5 to 1.5 times said predetermined diameter.